Update

Stephen and Kai painted the fruit trees with the lime paint I mentioned a while back. It worked pretty well although we got a lot of rain and some has come off. Next time more coats? But it was nice not having to worry so much about what to do with the left over paint. We were able to get the lime from the local hardware store.

We purchased Canadian moss and medium grit sand from the hardware store for the seed starting mix. Then we got some steer manure and mixed that with 20 grit sand for the potting mix. Steer manure is more mellow than regular cow manure, although it's not the most eco friendly thing. I had trouble finding old cow patties like Woodrow suggested. We have gotten a lot more rain the last two days and it's been wonderful. I took some shots during a break in the clouds.



Many of the trees are starting to show buds. So although much of the East Coast of the US is buried in snow, we start our spring in Feb. All the hundreds of acres of almond orchards in our area are flowering and it looks like snow. My stepmother Carol told me last week that a bee has to visit an almond flower ten times before it's properly pollinated! Wow. No wonder they truck bees in from all over. Not to mention that once the almonds have flowered there is not much else allowed to grow so there is nothing for the bees to eat during other periods. We want to get bees some day but only once we have established enough plant food for them. Maybe mason bees first and then honey bees.

Lately we have planted:
African Sumac
Carobs
Pomegranate liners
Honeysuckle
Native Ca grasses
Date Palms
Pampass Grass
Willow Cuttings

I have been to Goodins this week (she knows my name now) and I have gotten more Acacias, a Cork Oak (which was very exciting) some kind of sedge, two pomegranate liners for the kids, a CA Sycamore and a rosemary liner. Liners are small plants. We got two water plants from Home Depot of all places. A dark pink water lily and a small cattail. They also were selling Kniphofia (Red-Hot Poker) and stawberry starts as well as some Thyme. I have not had good luck with Thyme in a pot. With this one I will plant it out immediately. Oh how I will miss the many exciting plantings of winter! :)

I called the mosquito vector control office yesterday and they won't get the mosquito larva eating fish until March. But once they do we will bring a five gallon bucket to the office in Red Bluff and get those fish! I have plans to enlarge the frog pond in the garden before summer and maybe construct some kind of shade device. Speaking of shade. The Southeast Arbor project has turned out to be much more expensive than originally hoped. But we will build what we can and then save and build some more. It will be worth it though to have an outside room.

Communication

Susun Weed often says the weeds that grow at your doorstep are the ones you need to use most. Remember the puncture vine I casually mentioned was the only weed I treated as such and didn't feel bad about pulling out? Well now I must eat humble pie. Although there are many reasons not to like this low plant and it's spiked seeds, Stephen read some fascinating information about it in his Chinese Materia Medica book.

Tribulus terrestris (Puncture Vine): It relieves spasm, clears the eyes, relieves hypertensive headaches, dizziness, ... it is also effective in treating constrained liver chi with pain... (cross referenced in Planetary Herbology by Michael Tierra pg. 367) The fruit is used.

I have congested liver chi and have suffered dizziness in the past. So maybe it was just coincidence that this little weed showed up and kept showing up. And then again maybe not. I already related how I had wanted yellow dock and then got a whole bunch in a potted tree from Alfred. Yellow dock seeds are not easy to germinate. Certain plants do follow us around. If we are willing to look and keep an open mind. Now how do I encourage puncture vine to grow without every tire getting a hole and every finger getting a wound? Tricky tricky....

Flower Food

When it's time to take plants out and put new seeds in, I often feel torn. Many of the insects I want to encourage in the garden like hover flies, small wasps, and bees like the flowers of veggies. But in most gardens, lettuce, bok choy, turnip, winter greens, etc. are not allowed to go to flower. In one of my beds the mizuna greens have gone to flower. Yesterday while watering the new seed bed I saw so many honey bees working these yellow flowers. In Feb. there is very little in flower. If the acacias were older, they would be in flower right now. Maybe next year. The red filaree, which is a "weed", is also in flower here and there and the bees like it too.

So instead of pulling the flowering greens, I am going to let them go a little longer and try and work around them. I finally pulled the chard from last spring. It acted almost like a perennial since it has been in the garden for months, the frost didn't even kill it. But chard and spinach both have some acids in their leaves which for some people are hard to digest; I am one of those people. For dark greens, Kale is a better choice for me.

So not only is it a good idea to leave some sections of your garden wild with weeds, it is also a good idea to let some of your plants in the garden that don't usually go to seed, go to seed. This way you can provide habitat and food for many insects and birds. Not to mention if you are industrious you may collect the seeds for future plantings! win/win.

Late Winter/Early Spring Garden

This is the calendula not killed by the low 20sF we had. We have had some days of strong sun and they are racing to flower! I was impressed by their toughness.

Last week I started planting some veggies for the spring garden today. It was a leaf day so we planted:

Pea Shoots
Bok Choy 2
Lettuce
Orach
Early Cabbage
Kale
For the next few days I will be starting more trees and shrubs and herbs where the leaves are the part to use. This will be either sown directly into the soil or in pots.



This week I will be planting the snap peas and starting the tomatoes and peppers inside. Also I will be planting herbs where the flower is important.

This is what I harvested to make room for these new plants. Below is a purple kohlrabi, a purple cabbage, two golden turnips, one small red potato, a tiny carrot and some chard. Some kind of winter vegetable medley tonight for dinner. It is so warm today I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Before we left for New Year I wore the full winter gear to work outside. Crazy El Nino weather patterns. More rain is forecast end of this week which is good. :)

Revised Projects for 2010

Here is a list of the projects we need to finish before the summer comes:

Chicken Coop/ Greenhouse Hybrid

Garden Mandala Design and Fence

Chicken Domes

Southeast Arbor

Retaining Terrace Wall for Pump House

Finish Herb Beds

The arbor is going to be done by our very talented carpenter friend Alfred. The Herb beds really need to get done ASAP.

We are also waiting for a little warmer weather to get the citrus and more olives that we want to plant before summer. Stephen's mom said she would pay for more trees so we may also plant some Pecan trees. These nut trees are pricey and big. Today, I planted out some volunteer pecans that were planted in pots by Blue Jays. I don't know if they will survive but I figured I should give them a chance. The more trees the better. The East Coast is getting blasted by snow storms this week but we are looking at sunny weather. Between the last big storm and this smaller one we got 10 inches of rain. That is great for us.

Companions

In the world of gardening there are those who swear by companion planting. Carrots with onions, that type of thing. I need to read up more on this myself. And in permaculture plantings we talk a lot about guilds. Those are plants living together that support and help each other. They also occupy niches that we don't want weed seeds to fill if we can put something more useful. However sometimes weeds are just the thing! :)


For example, I have yellow dock growing with my ash tree. I want more yellow dock on my land so I am letting it go to seed and hoping it will move itself around. Yellow dock is a very deep rooted plant. It mines those minerals found way down in the soil profile and brings them up. So for now these two are companions. I also have lemon balm growing underneath my meyer lemon. Now these two may compete a little since the roots of the lemon are near the surface but I think the added bee attraction of the lemon balm and the fact it shades the root zone of the lemon tree makes up for this.


Often in people's yard you will see trees planted in isolation. There they are, way out there all alone fighting for survival. I think that plants are a lot like people in that most of them benefit from having other plants around. Also it makes watering easier. You already water the tree, so why not water another plant that grows with it? Yesterday I planted a butterfly bush next to my golden chain tree. And out where we live, most plants are not struggling for more light, they are trying to shield themselves from it. So the two or three or five plants can shield and protect each other.

Happy Chinese New Year!

I wanted to wish everyone who reads my blog a Happy Chinese New Year: Iron Tiger! Sounds kind of ominous but I trust it will be a good one for you all. We are heading down south to get our fill of family fun and Chinese delicacies. :)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!